The sea was a dangerous place to any but the most determined of sailors. North blue was no exception to that. Over the course of the last 3 years a crew of pirates calling themselves the "Gem Warlords" have conquered various nations across the great blue ocean and created an empire out of the ashes, the world government is near powerless to stop them now after the Ruby and Sapphire Gem-lords humiliated 4 Marine admirals in open combat.To make things worse, the warlords have begun gathering additional crews to maintain their territory and act as spy's. Nothing happens in these towns that the warlords do not hear. Recently the warlords activity for conquer has slowed down, some speculate it is because of a power-struggle between the current strongest members of the Gem-warlords who have different views.

We start our journey aboard ship with other survivors from the small island city of Archelos, a relatively well known trade port and neutral power in east blue. Well... it used to be, anyways. The Topaz gemlord laid siege to the area along with his ally Diamond and the numerous pirate crews that sail under their command, the most notable of the underlings waved a banner of a blackened skull and crossbows with deep red eyes. The shades. The trade port was annihilated in just a few short hours, those lucky enough to escape were in no shape to sail but were forced to take the chance.

(This part involves all of you) A small group of pirates, formally belonging to many different captains or in the case of the fox boy, used to BE a captain. Under his guidance and the help from the others they managed to steal an armored battle cruiser and flee amidst the confusion. With many aboard injured or dead from blood loss the crew has been culled down to just a few people making the voyage extremely difficult. We start our RP after the warship makes port on a very strange island said to be cursed, the scarecrow that wanders this place performing unholy rituals to steal the flesh and souls of any who enter it's unholy prison. Though that's far from the truth.

TL;DR - You used to belong to different crews, shit went down and you all escaped on the same ship under the Fox-Captain. Together you wash up on Stitches island to recruit him as a doctor and get a little Chatting to get familiar with each other. You can either choose to get on board the ship when you're all done or I will just skip to that and take you to the first of many islands.

Rain falls and lightning lits up the night time of the island of Charon, a lonesome creature stands on a rooftop. It looks below to spot, a body resting on the ground in an alleyway. Lightning strikes twice and the creature disappears in a flash. Cockroaches, thousands upon thousands crawled on the walls of the alleyway and ground. The countless number on the ground surrounded the body in a perfect circle. The creature from before appeared, and the cockroaches on the ground moved aside to make it a path straight for the body. " A boy?" The creature muttered as it knelled before the boy. The boy if he was wake, would see that creature was in fact a man, who strangely resembled a scarecrow. He wore a purple top hat, with its top tore off and cape with light blue bands, a light blue dress jacket with a red and black checked vest, and orange and brown vertically stripped pants. Attached to the left side of the pants was a sheath, which sword had a red and black checked handle. His face, on it was a brown sack, with red and green buttons over the eyes, the stitching their made it look his pupils were red and green X's.

The boy as much as the scarecrow like man can tell was badly injured and left for dead, he couldn't let that happen." Hallo-Hallo-Tentacl-tat-icular Experience." He said in an almost whisper. Ripping through his body tentacles and bursting from his chest was a set of jaws that belonged to a mutant looking rose. Its tentacles wrapped around the boy, while the rest of the tentacles climbed up the alleyway to disappear into the night.

The next morning, the boy awoke to find all of his injuries gone and that he was nearby the docks. A strange man, in an elegant black suit with golden lines. He wore a black top hat and cape, with a golden monocle in his left eye. Attached to his pants, was a sword that looked similar to the scarecrow man, if the boy remembered. His skin was pale, his eyes were sea green, and his hair as black as coal. " You should be more wary, boy, not many are very kind. You're lucky that monster didn't get you." The strange man said to the boy. " Please, be more cautious." He then, said " And leave this god forsaken place. " With his right hand, he pointed over to a nearby boat. " There is plenty of food, and a map. " The strange man finally said as he then left the boy.

Charon, with its notorious ash grey cloudy days and thicker than pea soup fog, starts a new day. The town made of stone is silent and abandoned. It seemed the city has been empty for quite some time. A few of the buildings there have crumbled into ruins, and others, were quite tall looming over other buildings, each filled with cobwebs and insect life. The forests are ebony with grey leaves, teaming with strange wildlife and oddly colored vegetation. The grass has the appearance of metal shavings. The ports that connect to the city of stone is ancient and creaking, its a wonder how it hasn't collapsed into the sea. The strangest thing of all is that the entire city is scattered with pumpkins that have carved faces and various pumpkin seeds, even the port itself have a few of these bright orange fruit. In the distance, on a mount was an ivory light house, with its light at its maximum to guide passing ships . A large armored battleship suddenly docked into the strange isle, right next to a pumpkin with a purple hat and creepy carved grin.

Last edited by Mastermind001 on Sat May 28, 2011 2:07 am, edited 2 times in total.

"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Kurz woke up from his afternoon nap and walked to the deck of the ship to stand by the rail, his rifle, as always, strapped to his back. He yawned and looked around at his crewmates. "How long we been out here?" he asked, looking out to the water. "When are we gonna dock?" He ran a hand through his long, blond hair and blinked a couple times, not fully awake. He looked to the closest crewmate, shrugged, and looked back over the sea. "Glad nobody knows I'm Mike." he spoke softly, hoping nobody heard him.

Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian

I the merc with a mouth only more badass.

Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of life, guide us to our heart.We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

A fairly tall and slim girl was the first one off the boat, the smile on her face reflected in the amethyst eyes she had. Her long wheat-colored hair bounced as she jumped the final step off of the gangplank. Their escape had not been simple, but working with people from several different crews had been a little difficult, but they made it out alright, and with a pretty nice ship to boot. She looked around at the grey village, her nose furrowing slightly for a moment before she noticed the pumpkins everywhere. "How cute! Jack 'o' lanterns are a perfect way to cheer up such a dreary-looking town!" She laughed and spun around to look at all of the different pumpkins, very aware of the fact that there was not a single person in sight. It was unnerving, but hopefully some of the other escapees would be settled down about that fact by her mood. Almost everyone would get a little skittish in such a situation after escaping from the Marines, after all.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

The next to step off was a tall-ish thin man with a very distinct appearance, his unique clothing made him kinda stand out a mile away not to mention the items clearly marked on his person. He looked around as he stepped off, he was used to deserted towns but this one took the prize for desertedness and creepiness with all these rotting jack-o-lanterns. "Smells like a vegetable graveyard here." The man said, his gruff british accent shone through quite clear amongst his rather pirate-like dialect. "Another town forgotten, another island under siege. Can't we arrive anyway with a nice quiet bar I can gamble in?" Jack facepalmed and sighed before continueing to explore the area they had docked at.

Hodo stretched and yawned as the boat pulled up and walked down to the windlass. He called out "Dropping anchor!!" and pulled out the stopper. After he did, he went up topside and threw out the gangplank. Not too long after, people started walking across, and Hodo followed.

Jack wrote:"Another town forgotten, another island under siege. Can't we arrive anyway with a nice quiet bar I can gamble in?"

Hodo snorted curtly. "I think we should concentrate on finding people first." He glanced around, slightly nervous. "We need to be careful. Places like these always have things like rabid dogs, shit like that."

Down in the Galley the sound of work could be heard together with a low grumbling voice.scraps. Nothing left to cook with than scraps. I'll have to go into town to get supplies.the sound of iron shod boots could be heard coming up the stairs as Matthew stepped onto the deck. quite a large man he was tanned and wore nothing but a filthy pair of trousers and his signiature Iron Gutplate around his waist. he looked at the town and noticed the many pumpkins. Pumpkin stew maybe. I hope they have Rum here. his cleaver on his back and a strange shell strapped to his wrist he headed towards the docks.

Dragonborn Dragonborn, by his honour is sworn, to keep evil forever at bayand the fiercest foes rout, when they hear triumph's shout.

Dragonborn for your blessing we pray, and the scrolls have fortold, of black wings in the coldthat when brothers wage war come unfurled, Alduin bane of kings, ancient shadow unboundwith a hunger to swallow the world.

Deep into the lower decks of the great damaged battle ship, in one of the countless cargo-holds, a small disfigured bird, if it could be called that at all, stood perched upon a literal hill of tumbled crates. Short twisted limbs hanged lifelessly from its bloated body as its ash coloured feathers lay motionless over its withered skin. The peculiar creature’s great soulless eyes, staring over a sickly alabaster beak, were glued at one of the high corners of room, gazing at everything and nothing at the same time.

So still it was, that were it not for the spasmodically twitching tiny warped wings on its back, one could mistake it for a stuffed prize that was once stolen from the dusty antic of some noble and then left to be mangled by bears…repeatedly.

This quite scene belied the horrid chaos and panic that had overtaken the rest of the ship no so long ago.

That is, until the mountain of crates started to shift and moan.

“Uggghh….Spring…Rain.”

Barely a second before the storm of silver slashes encompassed the small wooden hill, the creature lazily took the air with feeble flaps of its atypical wings. Unsteadily it floated to the other end of the room and slowly sank to the ground, its unwavering gaze fixing on the countless empty crates just as they exploded into torrent of useless firewood and splinters.

Pushing himself upwards with a rod of silver, Loop Lionheart, rose from beneath the debris. His is ebony bangs fell messily around his pale, boyish face and his spiky ponytail was falling apart. His once pristine chest plate was marred with blood and dirt, his ivory tunic now full of holes and tears. Yet even then, as he stood tall with his head held high and his spring blade in his hands, Loop presented a perfect picture of a prideful and honorable warrior, albeit one that had been dragged through the deepest darkest pits of the netherworld and had lived to tell the tale.

“What...in the twisting seas happened? Where the helix am I now?” Loop groaned, gripping his head. Damn, it felt as if the cargo of the entire ship had fallen on it…and judging by the where he woke up, he doubted that was far from the truth.

Coil, for his part, stood completely non-pulsed at the whole scene.

Loop blinked, before turning to look quizzically at the motionless bird-like-thing that stood to by his side.

“What do you mean I tripped?” The room fell silent. “How improper! I am NOT idiotic klutz! You should not Insult the one who saved your life time and time again.”

Once again the room went mute. A second later a vein popped on Loop’s head.

“The fact that I can’t help aiding you is irrelevant.”

Another pause.

“Why you!” Loop proceeded to swing the silver rod in his hands at the tiny creature…only to stop at about an inch away from its face as if he hit an invisible brick wall. Loop sweat dropped quite spectacularly at that.

“Damned knight training! Why can’t i never force myself to hit this infernal thing?” He grumbled straining with his entire body to push his sheathed blade forwards but to no avail. Finally he drew back his weapon and swung it in a wild flurry around the still unmoving bird with all the speed and force he could muster.

“WhywhywhywhyWHY?!”

A moment later, gasping for breath, Loop stared resentfully as the dust settled to reveal an unharmed Coil standing in the untouched center of a circle of devastated wooden floor.

“You know what? To the abyss with it! And just so you know, I remembered what happened and it’s all YOUR fault!”

[Some time earlier – during the attack of the previous island]

The spring blade tore through yet another wretched underling of the Shade Pirates. Despite his victory, though, Loop knew that he had to find someway to escape. The trade town was done for, he had managed to help a few civilians as he run through the streets and took out a good number of nameless attackers, but everything around him was burning and he himself was wasting along with it.

His body was tired and wounded, easy as it was to neutralize these low level thugs, every once and while one of them managed to sneak in a lucky strike. The damage was slowly building up, his muscles were starting to complain and the searing heat of the blazing inferno around him was rabidly draining him, not to mention the physiological damage he was suffering by listening to the pleads for help and mercy from the hundreds of suffering innocents the area.

No time to contemplate. The more he spend in the open, the higher the risk of meeting one of the Shade Pirate’s stronger crew members. If that happened, he would fight to his last breath but at his current state, he had no illusions that he could escape such a confrontation with his life. As such, he stood up, took a deep breath and shot through yet another alley, heading towards the town’s port. He dearly hoped that Coil had found a nice and safe place to sit on over there.

That damn hell-spawn had somehow managed to vanish yet again and last time Loop had seen him, he had been floating towards the docks. While Loop hated the little monster, it still didn’t change the fact that it was probably the most helpless thing in the whole town, not to mention had made pledge to Coil and was thus honour-bound to protect him until they managed to find a safe heaven for Coil live in. As such every instinct in Loop’s body and mind had sent him sprinting after it.

A moment later Loop found himself amongst the chaos of the local shipyard. Pausing to look around, his eye fell on the vanishing form of his pet, as it flew through a gun port of nearby warship.

A warship that appeared to be in the process of being taken over by pirates.

Loop took a moment to facepalm with a heavy sigh.

Not pirates again. Seriously, why did Coil take such great interest in those pillagers? Last time Coil had joined up with a pirate crew Loop had found himself branded as a pirate and his face on a local wanted poster. Imagine! Him, a knight of the Royal Coil, the protector of his kingdom and grand champion of justice, being mistaken for a two-bit terrorist of the seas.

Still, a ship filled with powerful and experienced sailors was his best chance of getting the two of them out of this mess.

Shaking his head and steeling his resolve, Loop dashed at the ship and up its boarding plank. There he had faced some kid that had proclaimed itself the ship’s captain and told him he would join his crew as a lookout. Loop always had a six sense for what was happening around him, it seemed as a fitting position at the time.

A minute later, he had found himself running through the lower decks in search Coil when the ship, in its wild evading manoeuvres, gave a rather spectacular lunge to the side. Naturally Loop was send barrelling through the entire level before colliding with the floor of the cargo compartment.

The last thing Loop could remember afterwards, was an avalanche of wooden crates descending at his face.

That and lots of pain.

[Back at the present]

Knight and pet fell into yet another staring contest for the longest time.

“Have I ever told you how much I looooath you?” Loop hissed with as much hate as he could muster.

For the umpteenth time that day there was silence between them.

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Loop flippantly exclaimed before finally turning and walking out of the cargo hold. “You just stay here where it’s nice and safe. I’ll go and see what happened of the pirates that sailed with us.”

----------------------

When Loop finally arrived to the bridged he was met with two great surprises.

The pleasant one was that most of the rest of the ship’s rag tag crew had no only survived but had infact managed to find a safe place for them to make port at.

Sure the place looked barren, ransacked and depressing but at least they had somewhere to regroup, recover and plan. That’s what Loop hoped in any case. If this place was filled with enemy soldiers or pirates like the previous island currently was, their little impromptu group was in deep, deep trouble.

The other surprise Loop received was far more bothersome, and he had to admit, at some level predictable.

Coil had disembarked from the ship and was currently settling down on the beach, sitting next to some young girl that was saying something about pumpkins or the like. There was little Loop could do to keep the sigh of frustration from escaping him.

“Spring step.” He eventually mumbled.

With a great, inhuman leap, Loop soared past the ship’s railings and through the air before finally coming to land in a crouch next to his infuriating pet.

Coil on his part, just flew up and latched on the top of Loop’s head the moment he landed. Loop grimaced. The damn thing wanted him to act as its damned carriage during this whole ordeal and frankly, the caricature of a giant mutant bird weighting on his head, was the last think he needed at the moment.

Still, he opted to ignore Coil’s annoying presence in face of bigger problem at hand.

“Pardon me,” Loop begun, speaking loudly as to address anyone within hearing range. “Does any of you seasoned...travelers know of our current location? No matter how…charming this place is, I’m not very fond of being lost.”

Loop paused as a familiar yet unwanted voice entered his head yet again.

“Before you ask, yes, the bird-thing on my head just talked.” Loop said flatly. "I’ll explain later but for now could someone, please, answer the question?” The knight pleaded.

Made it myself. (Tukinode may not reflect the ideas of his original creator)

Matthew gave a long silent stare at the boy....Then turned and started walking towards the town crushing several pumpkins in the process.

Dragonborn Dragonborn, by his honour is sworn, to keep evil forever at bayand the fiercest foes rout, when they hear triumph's shout.

Dragonborn for your blessing we pray, and the scrolls have fortold, of black wings in the coldthat when brothers wage war come unfurled, Alduin bane of kings, ancient shadow unboundwith a hunger to swallow the world.

Hodo turned to the bizarre fellow, who had not as of yet introduced himself. All things considered, the haste of having to board the ship had probably shaken him, but still, none of them really knew him or why he was here with them. He glanced at Matthew as he turned away, and said, "Matthew says he doesn't know. See, he talks through vague pantomime. Like that bird, apparently." And with that, he turned and followed the group.

He caught up with the group and said, "So, should we search for supplies or something? Seems like no one's here, so no one's going to miss anything." Even as he scanned the city, he couldn't detect any signs of life. Maybe he'd be able to make out some sign of where they were.

Kino struggled to control the wreckage that used to be a ship. "Dammit! Damn damn damn!" The ship was falling apart. The last thing he remembered was the sight of an island before the floor gave way and he plunged into the sea. Apparently he had managed to drift to shore and crawl inland but he remembered none of the that, nor did he remember how he got healed. The next thing he knew, he was watching the strange man(?) walk away. "Thank you! My name is Kino Shuren and I'll return this favor!"

*Present Day*

"Who knew I'd be back here again?" Kino stepped off the boat. It was unlikely any of the others knew anything about the island. In fact, Kino wasn't sure that his savior would be here. Well, he wasn't sure until he saw the jack-o-lanterns. Unless they were naturally occurring... Kino got on his hands and knees and peered at the one with the hat next to the ship. "You don't happen to grow out of docks by yourself, do you?" He grabbed the hat and placed it on his head. "This is... really moldy. Bleh." He put it back on the pumpkin and said "Well, time to go searching." He ran forward, saying "Guys, we may have an ally here! Just make sure the scarecrow doesn't get you!" Then he disappeared into the city, searching for his savior.

Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

Jack scratched his head and said "Scarecrow? I used to know a scarecrow, well at least he looked like one, we were crew together until we happened to split up one time and never saw each other again. Always wondered what happened to most of them." He walked over to one of the deserted houses near the pier, he peered in through one of the windows. "Hmm, looks like there's no one living in the houses either but they left most their stuff. Could be some useful things in here." He tried the door on the house but it swung open just as he was about to touch it. The experienced pirate knew not to just step in, that's how people get knocked out and taken hostage or summat like that, so Jack decided to just peer in instead. There definately wasn't anyone home that's for sure.

Matthew saw what he thought used to be a general store he tried opening the door. It resulted with the door several meters from where it stood. Matthew steped inside and started rummaging around. If there where supplies in here he would find them.

Dragonborn Dragonborn, by his honour is sworn, to keep evil forever at bayand the fiercest foes rout, when they hear triumph's shout.

Dragonborn for your blessing we pray, and the scrolls have fortold, of black wings in the coldthat when brothers wage war come unfurled, Alduin bane of kings, ancient shadow unboundwith a hunger to swallow the world.

Aelelia looked at the boy with the strange bird, and gave him a smile. "It doesn't seem like anyone knows the name of this island, but the captain's just said it was safe, so there's no need to worry about being lost. But if it still bothers you, I'm sure we can find a sea chart lying around somewhere." She smiled wholeheartedly at the pair before walking off towards one of the grey buildings. She turned the knob on the door and it swung open easily, so she stepped right inside straightaway. It was rather easy to see that the island was abandoned, had people been hiding inside, the door would likely have been locked. After a moment of peering into the room, she turned and threw open the window, coughing on the dust that she stirred up. She looked back to find a dining table with nothing on it, and a shelf full of books tucked away in the corner. "Maybe one of them will have a map in it. And what did the captain mean about the scarecrow? I mean, I know scarecrows can look a little bit scary sometimes, but it's not like they're going to pop out of the ground and eat you or something, that would just be silly." She crossed to the bookshelf, and began to scan the titles one by one.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

"Finally, land!" he said, leaping off the ship, partway down the gangplank. "Where's all the people?" he asked his crewmates, seeing all the pumpkins. "It can't be that nobody did this." He noticed some of them walking away and, after tripping over his own feet, he began chasing them, yelling, "Hey! Wait up!"

Innuendo Squad's Resident Lesbian

I the merc with a mouth only more badass.

Mother of darkness, mother of light, earth beneath us, soul in flight, songs of love and love of life, guide us to our heart.We all come from the Goddess and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.

Loop would never openly admit it, but after joining with Coil in his travels, he had become eerily used to seeing people giving him weird looks before running away. For the life of him the young knight was unable to understand what exactly was that which set people off like that yet he had long since learned to accept it. That was why he made but a simple grimace when Hodo and Mathew did just that.

Sure, it was rather curious; Loop knew it had something to do with the giant bird currently sitting on his head but he couldn’t really point a finger at it. Coil may be as ugly as newly born mole but it wasn’t that people avoided him on sight, well some did, but a few actually went out of their way to help him due to his sad looks. His lifeless eyes were another possibility but he doubted that idea for the same reason he was sure it wasn’t a matter of appearance.

‘Now that I think about it…all the trouble starts when me and Coil start talking. Could it be that none else can hear him? Could it be that I’m a crazy person having one-sided conversations with a stupid critter?’ Loop though, for a moment panicking. ‘Nah…Its probably cause they find his voice annoying or something. Oh well…wait…’

A moment passed as the young knight thoroughly considered something Hodo had said.

‘…Pantomime?’ Loop wondered, before shaking his head disapprovingly. ‘By the Helix, these people here are loopy! No wonder they act this antisocially! Although...i could be wrong...’

Some guy choose that time to start yelling about walking scarecrows or something similar. Yeah, that didn't bode well for Loop's ideas on the group's sanity.

“Hey Coil…what do you think about that thing that man said? The one about …’pantomime’?” Loop whispered, careful not to be overheard by anyone in the immediate vicinity.

A pause. Loop’s eyebrow twitched.

“Stop calling me idiot or I swear to all things holy I’ll find a way to turn you into chicken strips.”

Another twitch.

“Don’t tempt me…” He seethed.

Before the ‘conversation’ had the chance to degenerate further. Loop was startled out of his thoughts when the young girl by his side started talking to him.

The nearly constant smile on her face and cheerful aura surrounding her, even in these conditions, brought Loop's earlier epiphany about the crew’s possible mental condition in mind. As such he took the liberty of taking a few subtle steps back as the girl spoke. You never knew when the people that had been whacked one too many times on the head would snap.

Still, being razed to be a gentleman Loop had literally little choice but to pay rapt attention to everything that came out of the young lady’s mouth.

To his great relief, he found most of it reasonable.

“Yes…a sea map. That should be quite hel…”

…And then she was off.

Loop stared at her retreating back as a loose pumping was send tumbling through the beach by a particularly strong gale.

“…Okay then.”

Briefly looking around he noticed that most of the gathered pirates were already gone or going. For what he didn’t know but Loop was truly wishing it was because they had enough sense to scout the island and secure a safe location until they found someway to confirm their position and plan their next move.

For some reason, Loop could head a small part of him scoffing.

“I don’t suppose you could fly over the island and tell me what you see, right Coil?”

A moment of silence went by.

“Well, that’s what I thought; screw you too by the way.”

Looking around for a sign of what to do, Loop’s eyes fell on the distant lighthouse.

“Since the bird isn’t helping, I might as well try to get a bird’s-eye view of the place through different means.” He contemplated.

After a moment’s hesitation, deciding that the potential benefits of the idea outweighed the risks, the young knight, with his ‘pet’ still sitting on his shoulders, set off for the large white tower.

Made it myself. (Tukinode may not reflect the ideas of his original creator)

The pumpkin with the purple hat resting on the docks, eyes moved as the boy, would be captain, rushed into the city of stone. It muttered under its under its breath " The boy....", its eyes and mouth, then became still as others started to head for the island. It counted the numbers and memorized their faces and looks for its master that dwells within the empty city. When all seemingly left to explore, it sprouted legs and arms, rapidly dashed into the city after them with a mad man's grin. While the cook, Matthew was stomping and crushing his way to a general store, his ears would sense a buzzing as looming above his head, a hornet's nest was stirring about on the ceiling. Suddenly the gambler, Jack, would feel a swift breeze near his face as a blade flew pass him sticking into the door, he opened for a glance. Inside the supposedly house, was a dinning room, with an odd number of chairs, five, and a pumpkin with a purple hat resting in a bowl in the center of said table. Inside the room, the brawler, Hojo,was had the words, LEAVE THE ISLAND written on the floor with a blade, while the other brawler, Weber, it would seem to him, that someone was stalking him.

The Ivory lighthouse, the knight, Loop would notice as he flew that the light produced there has ceased. Upon inspection of the lighthouse, its grounds were well kept, and the building's maintain was flawless. If he were to explore the lighthouse further, he would find the door left open, and a chair, and a smoking pipe resting in ashtray, still smoking. The Vice Captain, in one of the more household buildings , she would perceive that all the books in the book case, were medical text books, and all but one was dusty. " Greyhen Notes", was the title, the hard cover was worn on the dark red book, but no dust had gathered on it, and the appearances, it seemed that the book was always removed there. " ....CHARON...." Said a loud and haunting voice inside the room, the vice captain was in here. Suddenly a wave of cockroaches flooded in the room, through the window, she recently opened.

Inside one of the tall buildings, in the center of the city, the scarecrow man was in a window looking outward. " Hmmm, these ones might be more difficult than the usual ones I get . " He remarked grimly with a groan. " Oh dear, I hope, I don't need to vomit wasps at them or worst." He worried out loud. " However, an armored battle cruiser, such a strange ship to have, especially since they appeared to be mixed and match." The scarecrow suddenly thought and started to stoke his chin. That wasn't kind of ship, you could get your hands on normally. And the group themselves, seemed to be disorganized as everyone scattered about, in different directions rather than tiny groups. It was all very odd to the scarecrow, especially the part about the boy mentioning an ally here of place, who was he talking about. " Oh dear, I think he might mean me." He realized and then sighed as he said " This is going to be so troublesome."

"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

The young knight walked briskly up the slope, his eyes fixed downwards and his breath beginning to show signs of strain. A normal person would have considered that after walking a mile uphill, such a thing was only to be expected. Loop’s life though had been anything but normal and getting even slightly tiered after such an insignificant ordeal, was reason enough for him to worry for his health.

During his training in the Royal Order, Loop had had to undergo hardships and education that mirrored that of the Elite Navy Soldiers garrisoned in Marinford, the almighty Headquarters of the Marines, which was stationed upon the holy island of Mary Joan within the very center of the Grand Line. Actually, back when he was still an apprentice, once in a while Loop had the chance to converse with some of the Navy Captains that came to receive a copy of the Kingdom’s status reports at the end of every month. Apparently many of them considered the order’s regiment even harsher than the regular one back at their Headquarters.

Logical, if you think that where a marine was just a grunt, each knight of the Royal coil was expected to lead companies of foot soldiers and take charge of entire battleships at times of war.

Worse still, Loop had been forced to suffer a hellish version of the normal regiment in the hands of his master, the General of the Royal Coil. It was only reasonable that as a result the young knight was used to running hundreds of laps, taking thousands of push ups and sparing hours on end.

As such, a light strain after walking something as pitiful as a mile, just served to show how horribly the Knight had been pushed during his escape from the Gem warlord’s assault back at the trade port.

Now that loop gave it a thought, he hadn’t drunk, or eaten for that matter, anything for the last few days or so. While the rest of this ragtag crew, shell shocked as it was at the time, had the chance to recuperate and recharge as they searched for a place to safely disembark on, Loop had spend his time in a dreamless sleep beneath hundreds of kilos of wood and supplies.

Turning his head upwards The boy from the twisting islands looked upon the white tower a few dozen meters away from him. He was really hoping to find something to nourish himself within the Lighthouse.

After all, the light was open so it was reasonable that someone lived there and no one could live somewhere without having food.

Wait a minute.

Loop’s brow furrowed.

The beacon onto of the lighthouse had shut off.

Loop came abrupt stop, his eyes not moving from the now shadowed building. Someone was there, someone was in the lighthouse and that someone knew that Loop was coming. Unconsciously the knight lowered the silver rod that from his shoulder and came to hold it briskly in his left hand with the hilt pointing upwards, with the blade ready to be drawn.

This could turn ugly. To be truthful, Loop had been suspicious of the lighthouse since the moment he had seen it working. What kind of person would live in this obviously desolated town and still have the will to care if any ships noticed the island’s gulf or not. Sure, there were several possible explanations, many of the reasonable, a survivor looking for rescue was one, a kind soul that wanted to help sailors was another. Heck, maybe the island wasn’t even empty in the first place, maybe people were just hiding somewhere in the face of the arrival of a strange and possibly pirate controlled ship.

Yet, there was always the case of the one living their being insane, hostile or even worse, the one that had caused the damage to village in the first place.

And that guy, knew he was coming.

His unnaturally sensitive instincts and heightened senses of perception were giving him a red alert.

Still, Loop was the kind of person that didn’t like being suspicious at others without any proper evidence. He had been brought up with the notion that even if the there were bad people and bad things in the world, there was nothing without at least a sliver of good inside it.

Maybe Loop was wrong about the whole thing, it was possible that no one was even there or if there was and the guy was dangerous, maybe he had a reason to be.

Meh, only one way to find out.

With renewed vigor, Loop strolled towards the lighthouse.

----------

The door of the currently dark tower had been left opened and after a brief moment of steeling himself, the young knight entered the Lighthouse, his eyes vigilant and his mind taking every inch of his surroundings.

Just like the surrounding courtyard, the entirety of the room’s insides were in a perfectly pristine condition. No, more than that, damn thing looked practically brand new. Weird, true, but it still didn’t warrant Loop’s hostility.

The chair and the still smoking pipe though put him on edge.

Loop slowly approached the ashtray and gently gripping the pipe as if it was a poisonous snake, he lifted it to eye-level in order to inspect it.

Yep, somebody had left in a hurry.

The questions were ‘where to’ and ‘why’.

And Loop really didn’t want the answers to those questions to be ‘somewhere in the lighthouse’ and ‘they noticed him and went to prepare an ambush’.

As much as wanted to yell and ask for whoever was there to show him or herself, he really didn’t think it was wise when someone could be crouching within a shadowed corner of the dark room and waiting for Loop to lose his focus so he could back-stab him.

Narrowing his eyes and moving his spring blade closer to his right hand, the alarmed yet collected knight scanned the room for any sign of trouble and hostility.

“Coil,” He begun, his voice low and serious. “Don’t drift away this time, this could be dangerous and I might not be able to protect you.”

As long as Loop could feel the currently absent comforting weight of the bird that presently wasn’t perched on his head, he was sure that, one way or the other, he would be able to keep his friend safe.

Wait.

“COIL, YOU HELLSPAWN! WHERE IN THE ABYSS DID YOU VANISH TO NOW!?”

[Coil – Approaching the lighthouse, its top that is]

With his expression as neutral and creepy as ever, his doll-like eyes looking at nothing as always and with his skinny limbs dangling lifelessly from his body, the peculiar bird was feebly flapping its wings and slowly ascending through the night sky, silently cawing from the exertion all the while.

His target? Top of the now dark tower.

A few minutes before, as Coil had been casually sitting on top of his servant’s head and nearing the white building, the bird had seen the lighthouse’s beacon being turned off.

This was peculiar. Why would it turn off? Coil knew what a lighthouse was. Loop had explained it to him once in an attempt to stop the wrinkled bird from drifting towards the first one it had laid its eyes on.

As such Coil knew that a lighthouse’s lights weren’t supposed to turn off until morning, when the port of an island could be clearly seen by sailors.

Its innate curiosity pulled Coil to inspect the beacon, something he was all too happy to do.

Having casually and thoughtlessly removed himself from Loop’s head a second after having noticed the event in question, the inquisitive creature was now but a hair’s breadth from its destination and feeling giddy.

Though his face was as emotionless and creepy as ever.

Made it myself. (Tukinode may not reflect the ideas of his original creator)

As Hodo was glancing around, he stopped, his eyes dropped to the floor. The legend, "LEAVE THE ISLAND" was carved into it in large thin letters. It gave him pause; if people had left because there was danger, there would be no reason to write it on the floor. That meant someone wrote it after everyone else was gone. A warning, intended to scare people away. To protect themselves? To protect a secret? "Very interesting," he muttered and walked back out through the open door.

Outside, he paused to think. If I were the only person on an island like this, where would I be so I could keep watch over the entire island and keep to myself? Naturally, that would be the tallest point on the island. And right now, that was...

...the lighthouse. He stared up at it. It stood, gray, and motionless, towering over the horizon, a bleak tower that overshadowed the town below. It would be almost invisible against the night sky if it weren't for the light of the moon.

...but why was the light out? Hadn't it been lit when they arrived?

Well, it was as good a place as any to start looking. He shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking casually down the street towards it.

Far in the distance, too far for those crawling across the strange 'haunted' island like parasites to see without help, was a slow moving ship that seemed to move at the pace the current deemed worthy and never seemed to advance. It was clearly a pirate ship following the stolen battlecruiser but as for whom it belonged too nobody on land could tell. A dark aura seemed to permeate it's surface and hinted at a being with incredible power.

Rallying orders to her crew, the captain of this particular vessel ordered to get in closer to the island but act like a trade-ship on a nightly run, even going as far as to change the flag billowing softly in the night wind. Though the lighthouse provided no light it was a well known area to the captain of this ship whom had called this particular area of sea her own. Nobody escaped just deserts. Holding her swords handle as if to brace herself, the strong captain looked down to a wedding ring on her hand and felt her usual smile dip slightly. Not from sadness, but anger. That anger had fueled her every step since that day.

"Someday I will find you, dearest husband," She spat that word out as if it were some sort of foul taste, "and then..." She casually trailed off, the grip on her sword causing her fingers to go completely white. The ones who escaped the raid would feel the sting of her sword soon enough. Her thoughts were broken when a hand clasped onto her shoulder firmly, a casual glance back revealed a tall proud man, his face hidden behind his helm. They would kill the escapee's together quickly and cleanly. That was his way... how she hated it!

Since he was born, Loop had never received distinction due to physical qualities, like overwhelming strength and mind-boggling speed. No, he had always been average in all those respects. What set him apart, what drew the eyes of the General of the Royal Coil on him, was something much greater, something not so easily found as fast legs and strong arms.

Ever since he could remember, Loop had been blessed with a sixth sense, so to speak. Powers of observation bordering the supernatural, instincts that dwarfed those of wild beasts, senses unnaturally receptive to changes in his surroundings, peculiar understanding of otherwise mundane events and abilities of comprehension that could piece together and analyze even the smallest and most disconnected of information. Those had been Loop’s talents and this was the power of his ‘Perception’.

This is why when the general of the Royal Coil had taken Loop beneath his wings, he choose to build upon his unprecedented mental capabilities, instead of corporeal ones. He had pushed Loop to think when in battle, to strategize. He showed him how to trust his instincts and how to move as to utilize them. He taught him how to keep his eyes open, to survey his enemy and his surroundings and use all that information to his advantage, to feel the flow of the battle, to move with it, to control it.

The result?

A warrior that could not be easily ambushed or tricked, a strategist that beat his enemies with more than just the power of his body, a fighter who could understand how his opponents would move the moment they thought of it and a champion who could react to any threat faster than the rest could detect them.

That’s how Loop gained his ‘reflexes’.

Baring all that in mind it was little surprise, when the young knight felt the dark aura of the unknown ship in the distance and realized it for what it was.

It was even less surprising, though awe inspiring, when the discarded pipe Loop had been holding, was send hurling against the sea side wall of the lighthouse a fraction of a second later, with enough strength and speed to crack it and imbed itself on it.

Loop stood still, his posture lowered and his hand hovering over the handle of the spring blade held beneath his body. His eyes scanned warily at the direction of the killer-intent he had felt, his gaze desperately searching for any sign of an attacker hiding with the shadows of the bookcase or the shall table.

“No one there.” He finally deduced. “Odd.”

His posture relaxed ever so slightly. He couldn’t be stiff, being stiff was a death warrant when the opponent could rush you from any possible direction. Even if he hadn’t found the attacker yet, murderous emotions were still washing all over his senses.

“God damn it Coil, why do you have to pick moments like this to disappear?”

As much as Loop’s heart told him to find to his ward immediately and bring him to a safer location, every fiber of his well conditioned and trained mind, screamed that he could not move carelessly in this environment.

He had to be careful here.

Made it myself. (Tukinode may not reflect the ideas of his original creator)

Kino suddenly paused. "This isn't going to work." He looked around, unaware that the rest of the passengers were currently being ambushed. "I can't just hope to find him like this." He sat down on a nearby pumpkin, first making sure it could take his weight. "Let's see... the first thing you should do to scout a location is... ah!" Kino jumped onto his feet, found the nearest tall building, and ran straight up the wall. Something about him changed as he did so and the wall was left bearing claw marks. However, when he reached the top he was human again. "Alright, so, getting a high view point is a good idea." He looked around, then lifted his arm into the air. "Triforce: Power!" He fired three balls of bluish flame into the air, one after the other. They met about twenty feet above him, then exploded into a large, bright ball of flame. "Hello? Sir?" Kino yelled into the city.

Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

Aelelia glanced at the dark red book for a moment, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side as she examined it. It was odd that it was the only book that had no dust on it, so she slowly removed it from the shelf. Then she heard the clicking sound of insect legs nearby, and her smile flickered for just a moment. Then the voice came. "Char...on?" She turned just in time to see the cockroaches pouring in through the window she opened. She grimaced for a moment and then stuck her tongue out at the bugs before racing around the back of the table and out the door of the building, the book clutched to her chest. She had no doubt that the book was important.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

" So very troublesome." The scarecrow man said as he drew out his blade from his sheathe. Imagines of individual crew members of the metal ship, were in his head, his head shook as he was displeased by their actions. " My favorite smoking pipe and my research, at least night will soon approach. " He mentioned as he glance over to the descending reddish orange sun in the horizon. " Hallo- Hallo-Tentacl-tat-icular Experience..." The scarecrow man muttered as huge green tentacles sprung from his body , out the window. " Time to make my moves." He said as he rushed out of the window, using his tentacles to climb and move around in the city of stone.

Sinister laughter echoed within the light house "MUWHAHAHAHAHA". Getting much louder by every second as if it found the knight's plight amusing "HAHAHAHAHA!!". The laugher seemed to be coming from everywhere around the room. Suddenly, the voice started to address the knight " It quite, rude to smash someone's things, wouldn't you agree? I doubt, you would appreciate your armor dissolved and your still beating carved out. " In the next room, something moved and fell over on the ground. " So tell me, leaping knight, why are you and your friends, here?" The voice questioned " Charon, is a prison for the walking damn, not the living." In the next room, was a scale model of the stone city on table and a pumpkin with a pail underneath it. If he were to look, he would notice numerous strange red boxes at various areas of the city and twelve green boxes at certain locations. The swarm of cockroaches continued to chase down the Vice Captain with the book and going along for the ride was a running a pumpkin with wooden arms and legs and a purple hat, giggling and laughing. " Give up, Flesh thing, the book of the damn, belongs to the Scarecrow!" The pumpkin shouted. The candle inside became brighter as it talked to her.

The explosion in the sky, gotten the scarecrow man's attention as he moved from building to building using his plant monster. It hadn't taken him long to reach the building as he used the tentacles to climb up, The scarecrow man noticed strange clawed scratched deeply into the surface of the building. Fire power, claw marks, and the boy, a puzzle had form in his head. What was the connection, he had to know. Grasping at the sides of the building, the scarecrow used his tentacles to lunge himself into the air. "Hallo-Hallo, trick or treat." He said as his body began to change. When, he landed on the rooftop with the boy, he wore an elegant black suit, with top hat and cape to match with golden trims. His left hand, removed the sack over his face to reveal the young man, he met four years ago with the gold monocle on his left eye, sea green eyes, and coal black hair. The tip of his sword was connected to the rooftop, and the way he was postured, he acted like the sword was a cane. " Kino, was it? I told you once to leave so I'll say it again, leave this god forsaken land with your people. Only the walking damn, can only dwell here, otherwise, you shall be doomed for eternity. " He warned.

Last edited by Mastermind001 on Mon May 30, 2011 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit